I'll Never Forget
by starglow13
Summary: What if Annabeth never took the poisonous knife for Percy during TLO? What if Ethan Nakamura actually stabbed Percy in his Achilles?  Read and find out!  One-shot. R&R  Annabeth's POV.


**Have you ever had those moments where you're waiting for someone on FF to update their story? Yea, that's how I feel right now. So, I decided to create this one-shot. I was listening to this with sad music in the background, and I got all sad… Anyways, enjoy!**

**First, here are some important things you need to know: The whole thing is narrated by Annabeth. The italics indicate the past. I will have some of the same wording from the stabbing in TLO and some from TBOTL, but changed around a bit. Sorry if it's a bit cheesy! I was debating on whether I should call it 'I'll Never Forget' or 'The Last Smile'. I just chose I'll Never Forget. On with it!**

**Disclaimer: My name isn't Rick Riordan.**

**I'll Never Forget**

_I slashed at the oncoming monsters. Pride surged through me as each monster disintegrated into a pile of dust. _

_Percy and I stayed shoulder to shoulder, facing opposite directions. A dark shape passed over us, and I dared to glance up. Blackjack and Porkpie were swooping in, kicking our enemies in the helmets and flying away like the very large kamikaze pigeons. _

_We'd almost made it to the middle of the bridge when something strange happened. I had this feeling something dangerous was going to happen, but before I could turn around, a telkhine launched at me. I quickly sliced off its legs and turned around. The sight shocked me. Percy was on the ground, choking back small cries of pain._

"_Percy!" I screamed. A demigod with a bloody knife stood over him. _

_In a flash I understood what had happened. He'd been trying to stab Percy, and the feeling I had earlier probably meant that Percy was in danger. But, one question remained. Wasn't Percy invulnerable?_

_I locked eyes with the enemy demigod. He wore an eye patch under his war helm. I recognized him as Ethan Nakamura, son of Nemesis. Antaeus forced him and Percy to fight on our quest to Daedalus's Labryinth. He'd somehow survived the explosion on the Princess Andromeda._

_I slammed him in the face with the hilt of my dagger so hard that I dented his helm._

"_Get back!" I slashed the air in a wide arc, diving the rest of the demigods away from Percy. "No one touches him!"_

"_Interesting," Kronos began. "You could be a great help to my army. Getting your little camp to surrender." He studied me with narrowed eyes._

"_Annabeth, don't," Percy choked. His shirt was soaked with blood. I had to get him out of here, before Kronos could attack him. But his time was limited._

"_Blackjack!" I yelled as the black pegasus swooped down and clamped his teeth on Percy's shirt. They soared away over the river before the enemy could even react._

"_Consider my offer," Kronos said while mounting his horse. I scoffed as he rode away. _

_All of a sudden, the borrowed cell phone from some an unknown human being rang in my pocket. I had a call from Finklestein & Associates—probably a demigod calling on a borrowed phone._

_I picked up._

"_Annabeth?" Silena Beauregard sounded like she'd been crying. "Plaza Hotel. You'd better come quickly and bring some healers from Apollo's cabin. It's… it's Percy."_

_That's all it took to send me bolting towards Will Solace. I grabbed him and told him to gather some of his siblings and meet at the Plaza Hotel - and fast. The remaining Apollo children would search for Michael Yew, who had been missing._

_We borrowed a Yamaha FZI from a sleeping biker and drove to the Plaza Hotel at speeds that would've given my dad a heart attack. I'd never driven a motorcycle before, but it wasn't any harder than riding a pegasus._

_It only took us five minutes to reach the Plaza—an old-fashioned white stone hotel with a gabled blue roof, sitting at the southeast corner of Central Park._

_I gunned the Yamaha over the curb and swerved to a stop at the fountain outside the hotel._

_Will and I hopped off. The statue at the top of the fountain called down, "Oh, fine. I suppose you want me to watch your bike too!"_

_I would've asked her if she was Demeter—since she looked exactly like her—but I refrained from doing so. Percy only had minutes. Will and I ran toward the hotel._

_I'd never actually been inside the Plaza. The lobby was impressive, with the crystal chandeliers and the passed-out rich people. A couple of Hunters gave us directions to the elevators, and we rode up to the penthouse suites._

_Demigods had completely taken over to top floors. Campers and Hunters were crashed out on sofas, washing up in the bathrooms, ripping silk draperies to bandage their wounds, and helping themselves to snacks and sodas from the minibars._

"_Annabeth!" Jake Mason called me over._

_Before he could say anything else, I asked, "Where's Percy?"_

"_The terrace." His face showed a sad expression._

_I didn't wait any longer. I pushed past Jake and ran straight to the terrace._

_But I was too late._

_Percy lay on a lounge chair, his face pale and beaded with sweat._

_Will and I pushed through a crowd of demigods._

"_The small of my back," Percy managed to say._

_Will checked out his back. The bleeding hadn't stopped. "Poison on the dagger." Will's face showed no emotion. "Somebody hand me some nectar."_

_Percy stopped Will. "It's no use. Ethan got my Achilles. Not even Achilles survived the arrow in his heel."_

_I tried to prevent the tears. "Percy…"_

"_Tell my mom I love her. Same with my dad and my step-dad, Paul. Grover too, he was my only friend before Camp Half-Blood. But, Annabeth," he gave me a weary smile. "I want you to know that I'll never forget you. You've saved my life so many times on all the quests we've been on. But you'll have to learn to move on—for the both of our sake's."_

"_No! You're not dying!" I grabbed some nectar, letting the tears flow freely._

"_Annabeth. The wound is too great," Will stopped me._

_I crouched down besides Percy's limp form. "I promise I'll never forget you," I whispered. With no sign of embarrassment, I leaned towards him. My lips met his cracked dry ones._

_The last thing I saw was Percy's smile. The last real smile I'd ever see. His sorrow-filled sea-green eyes faded color, and his body remained still. I waited in a moment of silence, before burying my head on his chest, soaking his bloody shirt with tears. _

_Realizing I wanted to be alone, the other demigods went outside, probably spreading the news._

"_I promise I'll never forget you," I repeated. "I'll never stop loving you."_

_I stood up shakily and exited the room, meeting the comforting eyes of other demigods. I just walked right past them, ignoring their apologies._

Now, here I am. Five days later, at the burning of Percy's shroud.

Everyone had tears in their eyes as Chiron started talking. None of them probably looked as terrible as me, though. "Perseus Jackson. Hero of Olympus, child of the prophecy, and a caring friend. Many people knew the young hero. I have asked his best surviving friend to do the final honors."

I took a long green silk burial cloth, embroidered with a trident, and set it on the flames. I turned to face the audience. "He was probably the bravest friend I've ever had. He…" I waited, remembering these same exact words when I thought Percy was dead but had really been at Calypso's Island. But this time, he really wasn't coming back. "… would do so much to protect his friends. He's saved me numerous times on each quest we went on."

"He died for us. We probably wouldn't even be here if it weren't for him." I could go on forever, but my throat began to close up. I felt a salty tear slip from my eye.

Chiron realized this. "Thank you, Annabeth." We all sat in a moment of silence. I couldn't help but remember the old times with Percy. The quests, the moments… everything. I glanced towards the crowd. Not one person had a dry face.

"Perseus Jackson. Hero of Olympus, child of the Great Prophecy, and a caring friend," Chiron repeated as the flames died down.

The next thing I knew, I was the only one in the amphitheater. Everyone must've evacuated and left me there - deep in thought. They knew I didn't want to be bothered.

I stood up and walked to my cabin. The gray building became closer in sight with each step.

I walked through owl carved doorway. The only thing I could think about was Percy. I let my legs take me to my soft bed.

I thought about the last thing I said to him. _"I promise I'll never forget you," _I whispered out loud, remembering._ "I'll never stop loving you." _That was a promise I was intending to keep.

With that, I fell asleep. For a moment there, I thought I saw Percy's face, smiling at me from Elysium.

His last smile I'd ever see.

**Pretty sad… I was sad during this, but I didn't have a boatload of tears. I was listening to some violinist. In my opinion, the ending was the saddest. Tell me what you think! Review! :P**


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